This is THE definitive book of the expanded universe. There’s no real way to get around that. This is the book more than any other that proved the viability of the Star Wars universe outside of the films. Moreso than Shadows of the Empire or any other entry that I can think of. I don’t mean to say that it is the best entry in the canon, I’m not even sure it’ll rank in the top ten when all is said and done. I just mean to say that it’s one of the most important especially since the majority of the stories in the canon evolve from the ideas presented in this book, ie. Han and Leia’s offspring, Mara Jade and Luke’s relationship, etc.

The book’s main shortcoming is that it is most definitely part of a larger story. It’s the first chapter of a trilogy revolving around Admiral Thrawn, and while the story resolves itself well enough to stand on its own, several plot threads are left dangling to be picked up on in the second installment, not the least of which being the importance of Joruus C’baoth who is thrown into the mix in the beginning of the story and never really dealt with. He’s a plot point that seems written with the intent of being strung out over the course of a few books. One gets the feeling that he easily could have been introduced in another book so that the main narrative of this novel could have felt a bit more focused.

The book is really better remembered for its legacy over its own literary merit. This is the book that gave us the name Coruscant, after all. Zahn is a decent enough writer but I feel about this book the way I did about The Courtship of Princess Leia, in that the prose doesn’t have the refined quality of the later books that it spawned. But I think that may just be a direct result of writers inspired by this book trying to prove they could do it better.